Wednesday, January 4, 2017

The Last Man on the Moon (2014) TV-PG

Not to be confused with the motion picture dramatization from 2016, this documentary takes a nostalgic look back with Gene Cernan, the last man to step foot on the moon during the Apollo missions.

Like any documentary, it has its good points and bad points.  I loved the Apollo era footage, the party photos, and Cernan's reminiscing with his pilot buddy.  I could have done without the long, mournful shots of the now run-down space center in Houston.  Yes, nobody wants to fund the space program anymore, and it sucks.  I loved the real life footage and photos of Jim Lovell after watching Apollo 13 yesterday.

As a maker's movie, this is great.  Narration and conversation are always good for me to knit to, and this movie had plenty of that.  Be sure to pop your head up once in a while, especially for the '60s era party photos, because those folks sure seemed to have fun while keeping it G rated.

Three laugh out loud moments, especially when he's ribbing his buddy about their old test-pilot days, or the old pilot who said the only reason to fly a helicopter that low was to check out some bikinis.  One eye-roll moment where the director seemed to emphasize a sad moment unnecessarily.  It was exploitative.

Three out of five stars.  I started to get sleepy towards the last half hour which is never good.  Check it out on Netflix if you have an interest in the space program.


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